


Nonverbal Affection

by ActuallyFace



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Cute, Ficlet, Gen, Nonverbal Communication, Nonverbal Frisk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2015-11-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 03:18:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5274560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActuallyFace/pseuds/ActuallyFace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk is nonverbal, and Papyrus responds to this fact with exuberance and flair.</p>
<p>(I headcanon Frisk as nonverbal, and thought it'd be fun to toy with the idea in a ficlet.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nonverbal Affection

There were a lot of reasons Frisk didn’t like to talk about their life before falling through Mt. Ebott. One of those reasons, and perhaps the most obvious, was that they didn’t much like to talk at all. This was both a cause of the general lack of information Frisk’s new family had about their former life, and a result of what they didn’t know.

They appreciated the fact that none of their family members really tried to ask about it, too. Alphys seemed to prod at it, once, but it was amidst such a storm of stuttering and flustering that Frisk couldn’t actually be sure. They were glad, too, that pity didn’t even seem to be part of the equation.

Frisk’s family accommodated this difference fairly well, too. Most of them picked up their rather complex expression-based language patterns quickly, and when Frisk felt more comfortable, their small, gentle hums in varying cadences added even more possibilities to the conversations they sometimes attempted with others. Still, these exchanges tended to be less conversations and more simple lines of questioning intended to derive necessary meaning, or else one-sided explanations, storytelling, and even venting. Frisk was a good listener, and while they didn’t mind hearing about their friends, it was often frustrating not to be able to respond, to give advice or compliments or comfort that extended beyond just physical reassurance. 

Sometimes, Alphys tried to struggle along in a conversation with her rather minimal fingerspelling abilities, but spelling each and every word in complex discussion was exactly as difficult as one might imagine. Sans seemed to know some actual sign language, though, and while similar to the sort Frisk knew, it seemed to differ. He sometimes made perfect sense, either keeping pace with his own words, or sending a more “secret” message using his hands while his mouth made uninteresting and typical sounds, presumably in order to appease the wandering ear. Sometimes, though, he seemed to be having an entirely separate conversation with his hands… Frisk assumed that it was just a ‘monster’ version of their own sign language, but, well… it was Sans.

As months passed in the human world, Frisk became more comfortable, more confident. Make no mistake; they did not speak. But their hums came more often, sometimes joining Toriel’s to make little snatches of songs and wandering tunes that had no real beginning or end. They gestured more widely, and as they began to sign more often, their friends picked up some words and used them to speed conversations along. 

This all felt natural, normal, even intended. It was simply how things were supposed to go. 

What Frisk did not expect, however, was Papyrus’ way of handling their method of communication.

On a snowy day perhaps six months after entering the human world, while Frisk and Sans sat sharing Sans’ jokes, Frisk was jerked out of the conversation by a loud “HUMAN!” shouted in the near vicinity of their ear.  
Loud sounds had always startled Frisk, and shouting particularly grated on them. While they loved Papyrus dearly and trusted him beyond boundaries, his way of speaking hiked up Frisk’s anxiety levels like nothing else, and this was no exception. They turned to face Papyrus after a bit of a pause, with a bit of an effort to quiet their nerves and steel themselves for more shouting.

There wasn’t any.

Instead, Papyrus, his face just about halved all the way through with an enormous grin, drew a hand from his temple outward in a wide gesture of “hello”. Frisk smiled back, unsure what was going on, but aware that it was new. 

Papyrus continued; his voice silent, he used his hands to form words. Elaborate, exuberant, highly exaggerated words.

“HUMAN. TAKING NOTICE OF YOUR PREFERRED METHODS OF COMMUNICATION, I, THE GREAT AND EVER-THOUGHTFUL PAPYRUS, HAVE TAKEN UPON ME THE TASK OF LEARNING THEM. IT HAS BEEN SEVERAL MONTHS. INTENSE MONTHS. LONG MONTHS. DIFFICULT MONTHS. I KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE. I HOPE THIS PLEASES YOU, AND I HOPE TO HAVE MANY INTERESTING AND THOUGHTFUL DISCUSSIONS YOU. PERHAPS I MAY DERIVE BETTER MEANING FROM OUR INTERACTIONS NOW, AND SPEAK WITH YOU WITH CERTAINTY RATHER THAN ASSUMPTIONS. FRISK. YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO ME.”

Frisk grinned back as he formed his words, growing excited. They felt their heart fill with love, and bounced a bit on the couch, eager to finally sign back; “Papyrus, thank you.” 

Papyrus’s excited expression softened a bit into something calmer, warmer. He signed back a more gentle “You are welcome”, and seated himself beside Frisk on the couch, hands still working out a long string of words in the first real, precise discussion he’d ever had with the human.


End file.
